Green Grow the Rushes, Oh

This song is an old English counting song, in the manner of "The
Twelve Days of Christmas," although it has a different tune. The first
verse includes a line for the number one; the second verse includes the
line for two and then the line for one; and so on.

There are twelve verses in all. In 2003, Strange Horizons is
running a series of brief stories by Jay Lake, one per month, each
corresponding to a line of the song. Each line below will be linked to its
story when the story is published.

I'll sing you one, oh;
Green grow the rushes, oh!
What is your one, oh?
One is one and all alone and ever more shall be so.
Green grow the rushes, oh!

Repeat for each line below. ("What is your two, oh?" and so on.)
After each numbered line, sing the previous numbered lines, counting down
to one, and then end with the refrain.

Jay Lake lives in Portland, Oregon, with his family and their books. In 2003, his work is appearing in diverse markets such as As of Yet Untitled,Frequency,Hour of Pain,Redsine, and Roadworks. For more about him and his work, see his website.

Jay notes: "This story cycle would not have seen the light of day without the assistance of a cast of dozens, from the Fread group to the Forteana mailing list, and most of all the encouragement and support of the Strange Horizons editorial team."

The leading wave of the first pulse hit the vibrissae on Felockati’s chasm-facing tentacles, then continued its race across his territory as his other sensors twisted to focus on it. He could tell how close it was from the narrow point of origin and partially occluded source — something large sinking down past the margin of the abyssal canyon.

I really was thinking of following Mom and Dad into mycogenetics. But people freak out when they hear that. It's like I'm supposed to go into the fetalposition and twitch and occasionally whimper, "A fungus killed my parents. I'll never forgive those dirty spores."